State v. Sprofera

427 S.W.3d 828, 2014 WL 836576, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 211
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 4, 2014
DocketNo. WD 75698
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 427 S.W.3d 828 (State v. Sprofera) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sprofera, 427 S.W.3d 828, 2014 WL 836576, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 211 (Mo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Appellant Joseph B. Sprofera appeals from his conviction of one count of statutory rape in the first degree, § 566.032,1 and the sentence subsequently imposed by the Circuit Court of Clay County. For the following reasons, the judgment is affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

In March of 2012, Appellant was charged by information in lieu of an indictment with one count of statutory rape in the first degree. The charge arose out of allegations that between July 1, 2002, and August 31, 2002, Appellant engaged in sexual intercourse with his adopted daughter J.M.S., who was then less than fourteen years old.

On August 6, 2012, the case proceeded to trial in the Circuit Court of Clay County.2 J.M.S. testified that when she was about six or seven years old, Appellant began touching her inappropriately while she slept. She further testified that the abuse worsened over time, although there were years when Appellant did not touch her. J.M.S. then testified that Appellant raped her in the summer before she started the eighth grade — which she believed to be 2002 — making her thirteen years old at the time.3 J.M.S. explained that while her mother4 was away at a teaching conference, Appellant came downstairs to her bedroom and shut and locked the door. Appellant told J.M.S. to take off her clothes and get on the bed. After she complied, Appellant got on top of her and inserted his penis into her vagina. J.M.S. further explained that in the days following the incident, Appellant again forced her to engage in sexual intercourse, this time in his bedroom. J.M.S. stated that she complied with Appellant’s commands out of fear because Appellant had physically abused her, her mother, and her siblings. She went on to explain that Appellant “wasn’t very nice” toward her and called her derogatory names, such as slut, whore, and bitch. She then described an incident in which she observed Appellant throw her mother out of the house in just her bra and pants during a fight.

J.M.S.’s mother also testified at trial. She explained that she was a kindergarten teacher and that, prior to the beginning of most school years, she would attend a teaching conference or retreat that typically required her to stay overnight. She further testified that Appellant would remain at home with the children while she was away. She also relayed an incident in which Appellant became violent toward her after she suggested that Appellant’s sister stay with him and the children while she was away for a teaching conference.

Prior to the case being submitted to the jury, the State gave its closing argument. During its closing argument, the prosecutor misstated that the jury should find Appellant guilty of statutory sodomy in the first degree. The trial court interrupted the prosecutor and informed her she had misspoken as to the charged offense. The prosecutor corrected herself, then re[832]*832marked, in front of the jury, that “It’s unfortunate that this is not the only ease of statutory rape or sodomy that sits in a box over (indicates) here to be taken up today.” Following the comment, the trial court explained to the jury that he had other cases involving statutory rape and sodomy to take up that day and those cases were “not related to [Appellant] in this trial.”

The case was subsequently submitted to the jury, which convicted Appellant of first-degree statutory rape. At Appellant’s sentencing hearing, the trial court reiterated its finding that Appellant was a prior offender based upon his September 1, 2010 conviction for second-degree statutory sodomy. The court then sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment but did not pronounce whether the life sentence was to be served consecutive to or concurrent with Appellant’s previous sentence for his 2010 conviction. Nevertheless, on September 27, 2012, the trial court entered its written judgment of conviction and sentence stating that “the Court sentences and commits [Appellant] to the Missouri Department of Corrections for a period of Life imprisonment. Sentence to be served consecutive with other sentences.” The trial court also failed to memorialize its finding that Appellant was a prior offender in its written judgment. Appellant did not file any post-trial motions challenging his classification as a prior offender or contesting the trial court’s imposition of a consecutive sentence in its written judgment.

Appellant now raises five points of error on appeal. In his first point, Appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal because the State’s evidence was insufficient to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that J.M.S. was less than fourteen years old at the time of the charged offense. When reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, our “review is limited to determining whether there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror might have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Miller, 372 S.W.3d 455, 463 (Mo. banc 2012) (internal quotation omitted). “We accept as true all evidence supporting the jury’s verdict, including all favorable inferences therefrom, and disregard all contrary evidence and negative inferences.” State v. Moore, 359 S.W.3d 520, 524 (Mo.App.E.D.2012). “When reviewing the sufficiency of evidence supporting a criminal conviction, th[is] Court does not act as a ‘super juror’ with veto powers.” Miller, 372 S.W.3d at 463. Instead, we assess “whether, in light of the evidence most favorable to the State, any rational fact-finder could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id.

“A person commits the crime of statutory rape in the first degree if he has sexual intercourse with another person who is less than fourteen years old.” § 566.032. Thus, the State had to present sufficient evidence that Appellant had sexual intercourse with J.M.S. who was then less than fourteen years old.

Appellant avers that the State failed to present sufficient evidence that J.M.S. was less than fourteen years old at the time of the charged offense. Appellant acknowledges that the State elicited testimony from J.M.S. that she was thirteen at the time of the charged offense. Nevertheless, Appellant contends that J.M.S. never would have testified that she was thirteen save for the prosecutor’s coercive pressure and that the logical extension of the evidence is that the alleged incident occurred in 2003 when J.M.S. was fourteen years old. In viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, howev[833]*833er, there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that J.M.S. was less than fourteen years old at the time of the charged offense.

On the State’s direct examination of J.M.S., the following colloquy occurred:

Q: Okay. What else, if anything happened?
A: About the summer of — was it 2008? It was before I started eighth grade, [Appellant] raped me.
Q: You told the jury that your birthday is July 7th of '98 [sic]?5
A: Yes.
Q: Do you recall how old you were when he raped you?
A: Thirteen

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Bluebook (online)
427 S.W.3d 828, 2014 WL 836576, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sprofera-moctapp-2014.